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Xmas Party in Shire
Last night I joined the Xmas party of my hobbit kin Defenders of the Shire. I did! And here’s the proof
First there was the feast outside the Kinship house, Opale is playing lute:
Preparing for the group photo – I am the ginger one in the front row. I made the classic mistake of choosing the same party dress with Jordetta 
All stay still…
…and catch fire. Weird things do happen in hobbit parties.
Herra Hakkarainen
was probably shopping for Lego Pirates Advent Calendar today as well. He’s taller than I thought. And no, I didn’t have heart to wake him up.^^
P.S. Finnish shops are finally allowed to be open on Sundays. About time!
The Love Float, page 4/7
This one arrives couple of days late. This is due to the random bug my nephew Oiva passed me last Sunday in his 7th birthday bash. Last year he gave me an eye infection to both eyes. Gotta love them kids’ birthdays.
Luckily, next Sunday I might get my revenge and pass the bug on, when my god-daughter Kaisa also turns seven. I asked her mum what I should get as a present. Katariina (my cousin) replied:
Do NOT under any circumstances bring any small animal toys, anything to do with princesses, any pink items or cute fluffy toys.
I guess raising three daughters leads to a parental pink overdose. 
Piippola Village Idiots
Last week when was lying in bed with the cold, so I made a big cup of tea, buried myself on the couch and went to see what Piippola villagers in have been up to.
I’m talking about Animal Crossing, City Folk, the computer game that has a never ending storyline, days and seasons passing in real time. A character moves to a town and begins to live like a villager: house mortgage need to get paid, harvest gathered and friends visited. Activities and events take place same time they happen in real life and there is not an ultimate goal. Life is what one makes of it.
Season had changed, but the villagers are still adorable nutters. Here is a selection of screenshots of what happened.
Baabara was standing outside her house – way past her bedtime. She told me her key fell in the river (even though I am sure they throw it there on purpose). I fished for over an an hour. When I finally found it and rushed it back to her, she thanked me:
Next I bumped to Merry, a new cat in town. She was wearing a pink daisy shirt and carrying a watering can, so I expected her to talk about furry things. But the looks are deceiving in Piippola. Her first words to me:
Derwin is my favourite character, an insecure nerd house full of fossils and junk. He approached me sweating the huge drops of anxiety. Big boys had been bullying him again:
It is absolutely ok to talk about vulcans, I told him. Relieved, he went back home and I continued to look for Harry, the bully. I put on a hockey mask and bun wig to look more intimidating. Finally I found him, an old hippo with no fashion sense and who mostly comes out at night:
Hmm, seems like he has adapted the word himself. Great, no problem there.
I was happy to see that Buck was sporting DS9 Julian Bashir uniform I had designed. And boy, was he feeling frisky in it:
I have to admit the shirt looks great on him.
Next one out and about was Twiggy, who seemed to have a great night. The canary bird chick seems to have lost all his marbles. Note that it’s not even full moon yet:
Before I finished the game for the night, I bumped to Baabara again, who commented my new style:
Six mad villagers. Piippola nights out, of course I am excited
The Love Float, page 3/7
I saw Crippled Black Phoenix last night in Nosturi – the best gig I have been to in a long time. That’s why this page still needs some more work
Ball-point pen tattoo: Jedi or Sith?
Planet Fun Fun -exhibition is starting its last weekend in Kerava Art Museum, there’s still time to see it! The museum is open from noon to 6 PM. Ball-point pen tattoos are made all day long on Sunday.
You can reach the museum by local train to Savio station (K-train on weekdays and N-train on the weekend).
Check out the Flickr page for all the tattoos Tero has made so far.
The Love Float, page 1/7
Last spring a bunch of designers /comic artists in my workplace came up with a great idea to collaborate on a comic book. Games was chosen as a central theme free to be used in any interpretation. The only other limitation was the length, the full story should be kept under ten pages long.
Anyone who has experience with working with a designer knows that they tend to be moody, oversensitive, egoistic and unorganised people with absolutely no concept of deadlines 
. If project managers didn’t have to spend all their time whipping their backs, nothing would ever get delivered. Ever.
And this project had no manager.
Neil Gaiman once visited Helsinki Comic Festival and told the audience one of the wisest pieces of advice I have ever been given:
I don’t think this comic book will see the daylight, so I am going to publish my own story page by page every Monday. Print is overrated anyway
So, Here is the first page of The Love Float. I will tell more about it after the last page, I won’t spoil the plot for you. Starring Venlala, hope you will enjoy it.
...in Flickr
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